EF Hutton officials say they’ve changed procedures and are cooperating with authorities after the Springfield-based company was targeted by an alleged internet fraud.
The scam, by a Florida marketing company, allegedly drove fake internet traffic to EF Hutton’s website for several weeks.
CEO Chris Daniels says company IT security personnel discovered the fraud after noticing a suspicious internet activity pattern. He says no customer accounts were compromised and no security systems were jeopardized.
He declined to disclose the name of the company pending an ongoing investigation. He says no red flags were found in EF Hutton’s standard vetting process.
“These are bad guys who are very careful. They know companies will do due diligence, and they’re very careful to show all the things that would make a company comfortable to do business with them. We’ve changed our process for evaluating companies like this and I’m confident that this will not be an issue for us going forward,” he says.
Daniels stressed company officials immediately came forward to report the fraud to law enforcement. EF Hutton has promised to create more than 400 jobs in Springfield over the next five years.
City commissioners recently approved an incentive plan granting the company half the income tax revenue generated by new employees -- if the investment firm meets its promised employment goals.
